Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern, #1)
By: Anne McCaffrey
My Rating: Four out of Five Stars
Best for: 14 and up
I was feeling sentimental, so I thought some classic 60’s fantasy about dragons would be just the thing to scratch that itch.
My itch was scratched.
The story was cool. Humans have colonized a distant planet, where too late they discovered every 200 years a passing star would cause “thread” to rain down for 50 years, destroying vegetation and causing the planet to become unsuitable for humans. The over time, the humans develop dragons that can destroy the Thread as it falls, thus protecting the planet. The dragons and their riders become heroes. Unfortunately, due to the 2 century gap between passes, the people forget the value of the dragon riders. When the red start moves closer, it takes those few who remain faithful to the old beliefs to restore the people’s faith in dragons and their riders.
The story was full of 60’s sexism, and I didn’t love that. I’m always on the lookout for great fantasy with strong female characters I can share with my favorite young female readers, so I was happy to see this story had a female lead AND had a female author. The female lead is strong and does save the day in the end, but the sexism is so thick it’s hard to focus on anything but that. This book feels more like an example of outdated cultural norms instead of the example of a strong female lead I was hoping for.
But at least there were dragons!
No language. No violence. Sexism aplenty. Sexual situations. 14 and up.
Happy Reading!
One Man Book Club 
2 responses to “#Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern, #1) 60’s Sexism on parade”
There is definitely an ingrained sexism in this series, but its part of the world. By that, I mean that there is ingrained sexism in their current society. In prequels when settlers first landed, there were different dynamics and the sexism wasn’t prevalent. The sexism definately wanes too, as their society progresses. The sexism is extremely pervasive, but that is just one of the obstacles that the characters come up against. Also, the newest pass was twice as long, not just 200 turns. Thats why there is such an emergency. Great book.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great thoughts, I hadn’t considered that the sexism could be included because it’s ingrained in the society of the world. I love that perspective, and it makes me want to revisit it with that in mind. Thanks for the comment!
LikeLike